Chef Alex Levine, of Whole Earth Center, treated students at Littlebrook and Community Park elementary schools to fresh spinach three ways as the final Garden State on Your Plate tasting: raw leaves, cream of spinach soup and with balsamic-glazed strawberries in a salad. Here's his recipe for the soup.
Chef Alex’s Cream of Spinach Soup (Alex Levine, Whole Earth Center, Princeton)
Makes 8 servings
- 1/4 cup finely chopped celery
- 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
- 4 tablespoons butter, divided
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 3 cups hot vegetable stock or chicken stock
- 1 cup milk, whole, 2%, or fat free
- 2 cups cooked pureed or very finely chopped spinach
- Pinch fresh-ground nutmeg
- Salt
- Fresh-ground black pepper.
Directions:
- Saute celery and onion in 2 tablespoons butter with a dash of salt.
- Meanwhile, make béchamel: Heat remaining 2 tablespoons butter in medium-size stock pot. Sift flour over butter, whisking to combine into a smooth paste. Slowly add stock to flour-oil mixture (called a roux), whisking constantly to retain velvety texture. Add milk. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Add sauteed celery and onion, stirring to combine.
- Whisk in pureed spinach; add nutmeg.
- Season to taste. Serve hot.